Flexible De Jager a ray of hope
The 22-year-old emerged as a Test player last year, and having spent most of the Super Rugby season out injured he has stepped up in a big way, slotting in at five in place of the injured Victor Matfield and calling the line-outs in the Rugby Championship.
Although he has played most of his rugby in the number four jersey, De Jager says he feels just as comfortable at five and will happily play in either position for the Springboks.
"I just want to play for the Boks, it doesn't matter. I enjoy playing four and five.
"Five is a few more challenging aspects like calling the line-outs and stuff but if you are mentally prepared for that then there is not much difference between four and five.
"I think five is a bit higher work-rate defensively, whereas four carries the ball a bit more.
"It doesn't matter to me, I feel I can carry the ball and play a part in defence so it doesn't matter to me," he said.
While De Jager was as disappointed as anyone in the lacklustre performance in the defeat to Argentina, he was one of the stand-out players for the home side, scoring a try and running a line-out which was quite efficient.
"We as the Springboks set high standards for ourselves, we believe we are the best team in the world and to lose on home soil to Argentina is not good enough.
"I think the line-outs actually went well, I think we lost one line-out in the 60th minute or something but I think we dominated them at line-out time," he pointed out.
However, he was not happy with the way that Argentina were able to disrupt the Springbok maul, and is hoping to get a chance to make that right in Buenos Aires this weekend.
"I think we could have mauled better, our maul wasn't as effective as it usually is and they tried to come with tricks and stuff and it worked for them.
"We had a look at the mauls and we will put it right this Saturday.
"I am hungry for rugby, I didn't play for four months so I am really excited to play and I am just happy the coach gave me a chance to play the last three games.
"I have really enjoyed it and I think I have done well, so we will see if I get picked on Saturday. Hopefully I do and I get a chance to rectify what happened this past weekend," he said.
The fact that De Jager is comfortable playing in both lock positions makes him extremely valuable looking ahead to the World Cup with coach Heyneke likely to have to pick three locks out of the quartet of De Jager, Eben Etzebeth. Victor Matfield and Pieter-Steph du Toit.
A possible solution to this problem would be to take Du Toit as in a utility capacity as he can cover blindside flank as well, although he has currently only got 18 minutes of gametime under his belt.
One of the keys in selection for the World Cup must be form, and there is no arguing that De Jager is that right now, which means that he surely cannot be left out, either this weekend or beyond that.
By Michael de Vries, in Durban
